Understanding littering and litterers in Wales

Why the client needed the research
Keep Wales Tidy required this research in order to develop a better understanding of the people who litter, why they litter and what they perceive as a clean environment. The research built on and developed research that was conducted in the UK as a whole, focusing on the Welsh perspective – both nationally and regionally.

Our approach
We adopted a multi-stage approach in order to best meet the objectives.

First, a face-to-face survey was conducted in-street with a representative sample of the Welsh population in order to put littering into context both regionally and socially.

The second stage of the research also involved face-to-face interviews, this time with those who had dropped litter in the last twelve months, representative of the population of Welsh litterers. This stage explored behaviours and attitudes of litterers in depth.

The third stage developed stage two, again focusing on those who litter with focus groups at key locations across Wales exploring in detail rationales for littering, attitudes towards the environment and reactions to advertising material. Observational work added a further dimension to the qualitative findings.
The outcome
The extent of littering within the Welsh population was explored, along with regional and social differences in behaviours and attitudes of litterers. An attitudinal segmentation was delivered with a comprehensive grouping of the littering population which supported our recommendations for targeted communications for future Keep Wales Tidy campaigns.
What the client said
“We are very pleased with the professional way the Beaufort team undertook the research project on our behalf. There was genuine enthusiasm to get all the information we required. We were kept informed at every stage and given the opportunity to make changes to the questions and other materials used, if necessary. I would definitely recommend Beaufort to other organisations.” (Lesley Jones, CEO, Keep Wales Tidy)